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The God Diversion

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I would like to develop a specialist Technique focused on improving the power, versatility of disposition of Summons at some point. While our near-term XP will likely be split between Hermes, Sanctum and Arcane Focus, with Remedial gains going directly into Architecture, Sol's personal preference would make getting a solid hardworking summon nearly ideal for everyday tasks like taking detailed notes or flattening minor nations.

Perhaps something like:

Technique: Grand Servant [150 XP, doubling per level]
*Inspired by the Bartimaeus trilogy, where magi are highly dependent on their summons; many pair up with a single summon they work well with.
*Designate a single summon as your Favored Ally; this summon must be of a type offered by your Devotion. Should this Ally be permanently removed from your service, only then may you call and designate a new one.
*Your Favored Ally is comprehensively enhanced by a package of potent rituals strengthening your bond and anchoring it to this world; its effective Aspect Rating in all regards is improved by +0.3 levels per level of this Technique.
*The mana cost to maintain your Favored Ally is reduced by 50% and its natural disposition towards you is one relationship stage friendlier than it would normally be. A recalcitrant spirit becomes neutral; a friendly one becomes truly loyal.
*Your Favored Ally gains an additional unique Technique while in your service; one appropriate to its station, nature, and bond with you. This Technique's level is equal to your Grand Servant level. These unique Techniques can be very powerful, comparable to Eldritch's Lethal Protector or Retributor's Justice Is Served.
*Summons which are not Favored suffer a -0.2 level penalty to their Aspect Ratings per level of this Technique, as resources and leeway are diverted from them to empower the Grand Servant.
*Alternatively, you may forgo all summons which are not your Favored Ally; this permanent change discounts Grand Servant by 65%, refunding the difference for levels previously bought, and bestows a second unique Technique of equal power.
 
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As far as I remember, it was mentioned somewhere that our Eldritch can create familiars from his own flesh. So we could develop a technique that enhances this ability of his and not waste part of the effectiveness of the technique to ensure the loyalty of the familiar, since the creature from the symbiont must be initially loyal to us.
 
[X] Neo Penultimate Sloth

Aspects: Arcanum 7, Eldritch 6, Sanctum 5, Destroyer 2
Techniques:
[Arcanum] Sanctumized Comfort's Embrace 8, Sanctumized Idle Study 8, Connections 7, Arcane Focus 4(Devoted Cup), Arcane Induction 4.
(+4 free Level 3 Eldritch Techniques, directed towards bolstering Arcanum)
+ your other current Techniques

XP Leftovers: 231.
Spends 7 SC.

*A combination of safety and comfort; Arcanum grants versatility and sufficient combat strength to prevail, Eldritch physically protects you, Connections 7 is sufficient to 'look through' and cast through your classmates, lets your predictions more reliably 'pierce' other Enrolled, and grants heavily limited power sharing with your classmates.
*Sanctum gives you an unparalleled hiding spot that can be used to conduct all sorts of rituals; you're difficult to contest within, which should combine well with the ability of Connections(as of Level 3, improves at Level 5) to ping off of connections both from card to Enrolled, and Enrolled to Enrolled.
*6 more Levels of Sanctumized Comfort's Embrace grants an additional +15 Will per Turn automatically, on top of the bonus Cup provides(+20 per Turn at Level 3) on that front. Level 8 Idle Study provides 40 XP per Turn, with additional +40s for each Decompression, meaning a Turn of nothing but Decompression earns 160 XP anyway. It should also be noted that high-level Architecture knowledge has been suggested to be key to resolving Solomon's malaise, and Connections is the sole Architecture-related Technique in his possession at the moment, so Level 7 in it may have an effect. Arcane Induction 4, combined with Arcanum 7, should allow for Enrolled to be inducted, seeing as Arcanum 8 is sufficient to make wizards of non-Enrolled, and allow Enrolled to use cantrips with a ritual.
*Just under 2,000 XP spent on your idle bullshit Techniques shouldn't be too much of an ask, even if your current discount will remain around for at least a year.
*On the other hand, the Will and XP generation means you can sustain a constant cycle of rest and work, taking one turn of full Decompression and then one of Full Classwork, maintaining perennially impressive XP gains and yet accumulating a net positive sum of Will into your tanks for future, unpredictable expenditures.
 
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ilbgar123 said:
[X] Neo Penultimate Sloth

Aspects: Arcanum 7, Eldritch 6, Sanctum 5, Destroyer 2
Techniques:
[Arcanum] Sanctumized Comfort's Embrace 8, Sanctumized Idle Study 8, Connections 7, Arcane Focus 4(Devoted Cup), Arcane Induction 4.
(+4 free Eldritch)
+ your other current Techniques

XP Leftovers: 231.
Spends 7 SC.

*A combination of safety and comfort; Arcanum grants versatility and sufficient combat strength to prevail, Eldritch physically protects you, Connections 7 is sufficient to 'look through' and cast through your classmates, lets your predictions more reliably 'pierce' other Enrolled, and grants heavily limited power sharing with your classmates.
*Sanctum gives you an unparalleled hiding spot that can be used to conduct all sorts of rituals; you're difficult to contest within, which should combine well with the ability of Connections(as of Level 3, improves at Level 5) to ping off of connections both from card to Enrolled, and Enrolled to Enrolled.
*6 more Levels of Sanctumized Comfort's Embrace grants an additional +15 Will per Turn automatically, on top of the bonus Cup provides(+20 per Turn at Level 3) on that front. Level 8 Idle Study provides 40 XP per Turn, with additional +40s for each Decompression, meaning a Turn of nothing but Decompression earns 160 XP anyway. It should also be noted that high-level Architecture knowledge has been suggested to be key to resolving Solomon's malaise, and Connections is the sole Architecture-related Technique in his possession at the moment, so Level 7 in it may have an effect. Arcane Induction 4, combined with Arcanum 7, should allow for Enrolled to be inducted, seeing as Arcanum 8 is sufficient to make wizards of non-Enrolled, and allow Enrolled to use cantrips with a ritual.
*Just under 2,000 XP spent on your idle bullshit Techniques shouldn't be too much of an ask, even if your current discount will remain around for at least a year.
*On the other hand, the Will and XP generation means you can sustain a constant cycle of rest and work, taking one turn of full Decompression and then one of Full Classwork, maintaining perennially impressive XP gains and yet accumulating a net positive sum of Will into your tanks for future, unpredictable expenditures.
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A bit too late but I appreciate the effort. Mind you I'm rather happy with the winning option. Well I guess it could win if you start absolutely whaling this option.
 
Ilbgar has secured us a 20% discount on Arcanum; I will be adding the obvious picks for 3k XP to King of Winter (Hermes 3, Sanctum 3). This yields us a combat Arcanum of 10.3 (+0 - 50% variable boost) and utility of 10.25, which is actually about a 14-point difference in Effectiveness Rating, where 20 points is a decisive advantage. Substantial boost! Everyone please thank Ilbgar.
 
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We can, but would have to sac 2 levels of Cups, Hermes and Sanctum, one level of Eldritch, and multiple levels of Comfort's Embrace and Connections - in my view it is the greedier build with potentially stronger long term growth, but King of Winter is about becoming an overwhelmingly powerful and strongly motivated caster now, so would not be appropriate for that build.

The Arcanum 8 build is viable but would be materially weaker than KoW as a caster in almost every way that matters, while also being slower and much more fragile. I'd rather play and give screentime to a strong build ASAP than constantly be pining away for the realization of a greedier build that may take irl months to finally come online.

Until / unless Grand Servant is approved, I'm fine with putting that XP towards Hermes and Sanctum. They're low-hanging fruit anyway.
 
Though, y'know what... with this leeway we could actually make Air happen.

[ ] SORD GUD
E7 A7 (18400)
Devotion: Swords 4 - Combat Variant* (4500)
Hermes 4 (3500)
Sanctum 2 (750)
Sanctum Comfort's Embrace 8 (850)
Connections 9 (1100)
Total 29,100

Combat Arcanum 7 + 1 Eldritch + 1.2 Hermes + .4 Air + 1/2 Air (vs. Enrolled/vs. Magic) = 10.6 before +30% (estimated) telekinesis modifier for Air 4, 11.6 vs Magic, which means a final combat ER of 187 vs Enrolled and 220 vs Magic, which equals an effective Aspect rating of ~12.3 or ~13.3 against Magic without relying on the vagaries of variable enhancement. This build is not very good at anything else, but boy can it fight, and I haven't even included Swords' unspecified bonus to offensive and metamagic techniques.

OR

E6 A8
Devotion: Swords 3 - Combat Variant
Hermes 2
Sanctum 1
Sanctum Comfort's Embrace 6
Total 29,357

A greedier variant that gets Arcanum 8.

*A version of Swords that drops the IQ boost to 1.5 IQ points per level, but raises the unraveling boost to +0.5 per level vs magic, +0.25 per level vs all other Enrolled. Proposed by Birdsie.
 
I wonder at what level of Dedicated Cup we will be able to create a Philosopher's stone?
Does anyone have any idea what properties it will have?
 
With the new discount on Arcanum, Eldritch is only 20% more XP efficient than Arcanum instead of 50%, so there's substantially less impetus for Eldritch-focused builds.

Checking King of Winter's current variant's prices...
Eldritch 7(6000)
Arcanum 7((1000+2000+4000+8000+16000)/2.5=12400)
Hermes 3(500+1000=1500)
Arcane Focus - Devotion: Cups 4 (300+600+1200+2400=4500)
Sanctum 3 (250+500+1000=1750)
Sanctum(100) Comfort's Embrace 10 (120*(3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10)/4=1560)
Connections 9 (100+250+350+500+600+750+850+1000=1100)
6000+12400+1500+4500+1750+100+1560+1100=28910
Yep, the price checks out.
Rihaku said:
We can, but would have to sac 2 levels of Cups, Hermes and Sanctum, one level of Eldritch, and multiple levels of Comfort's Embrace and Connections - in my view it is the greedier build with potentially stronger long term growth, but King of Winter is about becoming an overwhelmingly powerful and strongly motivated caster now, so would not be appropriate for that build.

The Arcanum 8 build is viable but would be materially weaker than KoW as a caster in almost every way that matters, while also being slower and much more fragile. I'd rather play and give screentime to a strong build ASAP than constantly be pining away for the realization of a greedier build that may take irl months to finally come online.
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Of course, decimal Aspect levels are still a thing! Someone aiming for an Arcanum-purchase-efficiency build can always just take King Of Winter(pre-discount variant) and use the 3100 XP saved by the discount on more Arcanum, for a total Arcanum of 7+3100/((32000)/2.5)=7.2422; or, using also the XP the original variant had spare, 7+3445/((32000)/2.5)=7.2691. It only gets about half as much of an immediate power/versatility increase out of the discount as your current King Of Winter variant, but it's also 2-2.5x as XP-efficient at using said discount, so... pros and cons.


Totally unrelatedly, I made a half-joking agreement to support SMBlade given an action it appears they do intend to do, and also don't expect it to actually matter, so:
[X] SMBlade
 
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Yeah, we could do Hermes 2, Sanctum 2 and buy Arcanum 7.19 on top, it's hardly elegant though… if only it were 7.2.
 
Actually we could manage eldritch 8 and arcanum 7 with the new discount, which would be the most effective use of xp due to the 3x and effective 2.5x xp bonus on them
 
Aquiz27 said:
Actually we could manage eldritch 8 and arcanum 7 with the new discount, which would be the most effective use of xp due to the 3x and effective 2.5x xp bonus on them
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We would lose far too much in other techniques. Builds must be more than just an optimal summation of how much effective xp we can squeeze out. Having specialized techniques that have useful effects like devotion or connections or comforts embrace is critical, we can't just power level aspects and expect it to be optimal.
 
If Solomon visits the Bibleverse, here's a hypothetical Aspect (written in jest, no offense intended) for him:

Aspect: Simony - By which miracles may be traded like chickens at market. Whalesong reverberates through the firmament. Drifting down like leaves from on high, the gradual accumulation of green tips the scales of Justice in your favor. A fitting power for a magus; if someone's going to make it rain, you might as well dance in it.

Amplify the impact of all extradiegetic purchases made on Solomon's behalf, starting with a ten percent improvement initially. As a side effect, he gains a deeper insight into the transactional nature of human beings, slightly mitigating his Architectural malus in mercenary matters.

Technique: Limited Time Offer - Bargains are temporary, but FOMO is forever. Whatever 'it' is, get it while it lasts! Quarter the turn duration of all discounts but apply them twice. Future levels offer incremental increases of the markdown. This Technique will only be offered once.
 
So if the vote doesn't change massively in the next like twelve hours can you close the vote birdsie? Cause I don't see it changing much.
 
Minor changes to King of Winter:

Spent the 445 spare XP -
*Bought Arcane Induction 1
*Put the rest of the XP (412.75) towards Arcanum, effectively netting us 1032 of the 32,000 XP needed for base Arcanum 8, or Arcanum 7.03. This is worth about +.69 Effect Rating to all our spells. It helps!
 
Birdsie To which course did the Metaphysician achieve the same strength as us, provided that the King of Winter wins and if he achieved the same power in the first course, how far do we determine him or lag behind him?
 
Fghubyygvb said:
@Birdsie To which course did the Metaphysician achieve the same strength as us, provided that the King of Winter wins and if he achieved the same power in the first course, how far do we determine him or lag behind him?
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All you know is that he was likely better than you in most respects other than physicals.
 
If we can't defeat a theoretical same level version of him. now, we won't be able to defeat his current self, not without a Deus Ex machina at least.
 
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